Competitive incentives is a major challenge faced by Fiji’s film commission at present to continue to attract international productions to the country.
And Film Fiji chief executive officer Jone Robertson said if the incentive remained the same, it would not make it financial beneficial for those international productions to come here.
Film Fiji manages the incentive the Government offers to international production, and it sits at 20 per cent cash rebate, and capped at $4million per production.
This means that each production will not claim anything above $4m however much they spend in the country.
Responding to questions at their public hearing before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts this month, Mr Robertson said the challenges they predicted moving into the future was a very competitive film industry.
He said there were other film commissions that offered incentives that were much higher than what Fiji offered at present.
“Fiji has a cap of $4m per production, some countries have no caps. So, if a production spends $100m in that particular country, they could claim not 20 per cent but 30 per cent, 40 per cent, and there is no cap against that budget,” Mr Robertson said.
“So it makes it a very competitive market.
“This resulted from COVID 19 where a lot of film commissions increased their incentives to attract productions to their country for a quick injection of economic activity.
“As an example, some of these productions had filmed in the country for three months but their expenditure into the country could be $20m, $30m, $50m in a very short period of time. And with COVID destroying businesses really and putting businesses in the bottom of reconciliations with their banks, debt and mortgage, this was an opportunity for governments to get a quick injection of economic activity.”
Mr Robertson said with that, it had provided a massive competition with other countries, similar to economic sizes and what locations Fiji offers as well, on top of accommodation, and easy access of flights and freight.
“That is a major competition for us right now.
“If the incentive remains the same, it does not make it financially beneficial for international production to come to Fiji. They would either go to Thailand, which has a 30 per cent cash rebate with no cap, and very similar in economic size and locations with what Fiji offers as well.”
Mr Robrtson, however, said they had maintained good relationships with a lot of productions; citing reality TV show US Survivor that had spent 10 years filming on Mana Island and Love Island US in its third year filming in Fiji.
“So there is support towards Fiji in terms of the benefits that Fiji offers to the international productions aside from only the incentive. But the incentive plays a massive role in attracting productions, especially new productions to the country.”
Note: This article was first published on the print version of the Fiji Times dated June 25, 2025
